After a few hours of shopping, the family stopped to eat something. Oddly enough, the restaurant wasn't bothered by Zion being in Sarah's lap.
Zion had noticed a few other small beasts on the laps of different customers, so he figured it was normal.
Once they ate, they went to a hotel and got a room for them all; Abraham and Lauren tucked Sarah into bed, "Tomorrow is the placement test for the Academy. It will decide what level you are, which will decide what class you should be attending." Lauren smiled at her daughter.
"Mum... dad... what were your placement tests like?" She asked.
Lauren paused, "Well, sweetie, due to my Light Affinity, I was immediately placed into the supportive Mage classes."
"And I hadn't been training for 3 years before the test, so I had gotten a pretty low score. If I remember correctly, I was a level 4, which placed me in the middle classes." Abraham looked thoughtful as he tried to remember.
'"What are the rankings?"' Zion asked as he jumped onto the bed beside Sarah's pillow and lay down.
"The school ranks from level 1 to 9. Students who are levels 1 to 3 are low level and are in the bottom classes. They don't have a lot of resources and usually have to scrounge to get anywhere." Abraham sat on the end of the bed as he spoke.
"Levels 4 to 6 are medium levels and are the middle classes. They get more resources than the bottom classes but not as many as the top classes."
"That, of course, leaves levels 7 to 9, which are the top classes. They get the best of the best." Abraham finished explaining.
Sarah frowned softly, looking worried, so Lauren gently pushed the hair off her face, "You don't need to be so worried, sweetie. You can rise and fall between the classes. Every 3 months, just before the holidays, the school had an internal competition between the 3 class levels and allowed the top 10 of the bottom or middle classes to replace the bottom 10 of the middle and top classes." Lauren explained to her.
Sarah sighed, "Oh, okay. That's not so bad then. Even if I don't get a top score, I can improve." She smiled, nodding.
Abraham and Lauren smiled at her and nodded, "That's right. Alright, time to sleep. Big day tomorrow." Lauren kissed Sarah's forehead and stood up.
Abraham then kissed the top of her head and followed Lauren out of the room. Sarah watched them leave, then asked Zion, "Hey Zion... are you worried?" She asked.
'"To be honest, no, I'm not. You've been training a lot longer than many. I'm expecting you to be at least level 6 or above."' He yawned wide, then snuggled his head into his tail.
Sarah gently pats him as he settles to sleep, "I'm lucky I've got you with me, Zion." She smiled as she closed her eyes, soon falling asleep.
Zion smiled to himself, 'Not as lucky as I am to have you.' He thought to himself as he also drifted off to sleep.
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The next day arrived before they knew it. The Veilstone family very swiftly arrived at the humongous Academy.
Zion stared at it with widened eyes. The Academy was as large as a castle with many rooms, locations and even a field the size of 2 football fields on earth. That's where all the families were congregating.
All the students were heading forward to stand in front of a large stage made from marble brick. Like Sarah, a few others also had beast pets with them.
The parents waited at the back, watching their children gather before the stage. After another 30 minutes, the gates behind the parents shut loudly, causing everyone to look at them before a loud but deep masculine voice drew their attention back to the stage, "Everyone who has now arrived is at this moment accepted into the Academy. Any still outside the gates are denied entry and must come back next year." A tall, broad man stood on the stage. He was bald but had a long black beard that reached his stomach. He wore simple training clothes, but the look in his hazel eyes was sharp and made it seem like he saw everything.
"All students line up in rows of 10 within 3 minutes. Anyone not in line will be removed." He spoke again, and the students hurried to line up. When the 3 minutes were done, a couple of students were arguing, which led to them not being in a line.
The man nodded towards them when suddenly, a hooded man appeared beside them, grabbed them both by the collars and took them out of the gates. Two families hurriedly followed the hooded man.
"Alright. Today, to figure out which classes you 80 students will be attending, there will be a placement test." The man then explained the level placement system, just like Sarah's parents explained last night.
When he finished, he turned towards the stage where strange dummies were placed at some point during his explanation.
'Impressive... even I didn't notice them get placed, just like that hooded guy earlier.' Zion mused as he looked at the dummies just like everyone else.
"The test is simple. You are to attack these dummies with all your strength. Use a weapon or a spell or even your pet. Whatever will be your main attacking style is what you will use to hit the dummies. Now," the man pulled a scroll from his pocket, "let's begin."